It is more and more common for drummers to want to use electronic drum triggers for bass drums, usually in search of more foot pedal speed or to electronically change the sound of the drum. Very light beaters change direction more quickly than heavy ones, thus allowing for more speed. Unfortunately, these light, quick bass drum strokes are too soft to be heard if played on a conventional acoustic drum, necessitating the use of electronic triggering and amplification. An extremely small force is required to trigger an electronic pad, which allows drummers to use very light beaters in their pedals with extremely short strokes.
Prior art electronic triggers for bass drum pedals usually come in one of three forms. There is a clip-on device 350 in FIG. 1 that mounts to the rim of a drum 351. Note that a foam cone 352 touches the head of the drum 207, and transfers the vibration from the drum head 207 to the piezo transducer 354. The piezo transducer produces an electrical current when vibrated, and this current is then sent to a drum module for digital sound processing. It is easy to remove this device if need be, however, the triggering performance can be intermittent due to the fact that the piezo transducer 354 is a long way from the point of impact of the drum pedal beater.
Many do-it-yourself drummers have solved this problem by installing a bar (FIG. 2, 281) across the inside of their drums and mounting a home-built piezo and foam apparatus. In this example, the piezo (not shown) is mounted under a foam cone 280, and when the drum head 207 (shown in clear plastic) is struck by the drum pedal 204, the cone 280 transfers the vibration to the piezo transducer. If a drummer has the skills to build one of these, it usually works well but sometimes lacks the dependability of commercial drum pads. Also, adjustments to the device inside a completed drum can be difficult, usually involving hand tools.
A third configuration eliminates the bass drum altogether, and replaces it with a free-standing electronic kick pad as in FIG. 3. These electronic kick pad stands are used in almost all electronic drum sets, and conventional acoustic drum pedals 204 are bolted to the apparatus. They are generally sturdy and the built-in triggering pads 33 have dependable triggering characteristics. The angle and location of the impact pad in relation to the pedal is not adjustable. They are also very expensive, and in many instances, cost more than an entire acoustic drum set.
Note that none of the prior art devices mentioned have the flexibility to mount other percussion instruments, and that the positional adjustability of the electronic triggering devices is limited or non-existent.
My universal drum pedal instrument mounting stand invention is an inexpensive alternative to all prior art, and it allows the drummer to choose from a plethora of readily available electronic pads, acoustic instruments, or dampening devices. These stands can be positioned at the discretion of the musician, and mounted inside or outside of a bass drum.